


Natural

by The_Florian_Triangle



Category: One Piece
Genre: !!!, M/M, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Smoking, They’re gonna have a picnic, Threesome - M/M/M, Weapons, Yet., no sex yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Florian_Triangle/pseuds/The_Florian_Triangle
Summary: “That girl, who asked you out.” Coby watched Helmeppo’s eyebrows rise. “Say she got murdered.”“What the hell, Coby?”“It’s hypothetical!! It’s hypothetical!! I’m trying to figure out if I like you or not!”AKA Coby is completely oblivious, Drake is back from mission, and Helmeppo is suddenly dating a lizard by association.
Relationships: Coby/Helmeppo (One Piece), Coby/X Drake, X Drake/Coby/Helmeppo (One Piece)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Natural

**Author's Note:**

> Do I beta things? No I do not. 
> 
> Cranked the last bit of this out in a feverish, ultra-determined state of personal hell and yet somehow did not get them to fuck. Shameful.

“Again.” 

It was the matter of the turn kick sidestep that was getting him. Or maybe it was so hot that his lungs were starting to protest. Coby exhaled, wiping his face on the bottom of his shirt and picking up the sticks. Drake was sitting in the corner, legs crossed, Hepp’s lighter in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He inhaled and coughed, smoke blowing out of his nose. Helmeppo turned back to his trainee-victim, forcibly turning the corners of his mouth down so he wouldn’t start laughing. Coby tilted his head down, allowing himself a wide, private grin. 

“Your posture is terrible, Coby,” Hepp muttered, the humor in his tone barely masking the fondness behind it. “You're holding the weapons on the same level.” He dropped his kukri, walking over and adjusting Coby’s arms. “The point of two weapons is that you’re unleashing a flurry of attacks that are hard to block with only one strike. If you’re out in the battlefield and that guy has swords and you’re fighting with your _damn bare hands_ …”

“I can use Haki, Hepp.” 

“And if you’re in a situation where you can’t get away? I understand that you can break me over your knee, but you need more weapons training.” Coby huffed, flipping the sticks over in his hands. Drake stubbed out the cigarette, having given up. The smoke wafted through the sun coming in through the window, making it even lighter than the bright white walls. 

“Go—“ Coby steeled himself, feeling power surging through his blood. 

“ _Soru—!”_

“Don’t.” Drake’s voice cut through the room, sending Coby to a skidding halt. Helmeppo froze as well, brow furrowing. 

“What is it?”

“It’s too hot out here right now, even in the shade.” Drake stood up. “Giving yourself heatstroke won’t help teach you how not to die when you’re against blades. You need to take a break until the night comes.” Helmeppo frowned slightly, opening his mouth to challenge him, but Coby set his sticks down and put a hand on his shoulder, which was usually enough to get him to shut up. 

“We were thinking about going to the bay after training,” he said casually, watching Drake’s face for maybe a twitch? A tweak of the lips? A single eyebrow movement? It often worried Coby just how emotionless Drake came off sometimes. The whispers of his past didn’t often speak of a happy one, but they never did for Coby, either, and for him they were always missing one key detail. Who knows how much of Drake’s life they didn’t know, especially because he didn’t seem keen on sharing. How different he was from Coby, who couldn’t even prevent himself from _crying_ in front of an _enemy._ Even the thought made his face flush slightly. 

Drake turned around, hand on the hilt of his rapier. “Good for you.”

“And you—“ Helmeppo inhaled sharply, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. “You— You should definitely come too. It’s hot as hell out there, and there are some nice places to dip your feet in. We can head to the mess hall and grab a picnic, too…” Nothing. Not a glimmer of humor or disgust. Coby pursed his lips together. 

“...Leave the food to me, and count on me to be there.” Was that a smile? It was so small that it was barely perceptible, but it made Coby grin. So Drake did _feel,_ he just wasn’t used to _showing._

“We’ll count on you, then.” Drake nodded, adjusting his cap and walking out into the sunlight. Coby sighed, dropping his head and letting it rest against Helmeppo’s shoulder. 

“It really is hot as hell.”

“Yeah.” Helmeppo crossed his arms, staring out after Drake despite the blazing sunlight. Coby wondered what he was feeling. Hepp was usually a lot more easy to read than this. Was he losing his touch or was his friend and battle partner just getting better at hiding his feelings? When would that ability come for Coby, who was beyond certain that he was an unlocked and open book? “I don’t like that he stopped us, though. Can he do that?”

“Technically, I think he can, but he wasn’t pulling rank, Hepp. He was just concerned.” A dry scoff, and Helmeppo walked over to the shade, picking up his cigarettes and lighter. 

“He was concerned for _you.”_ It felt like an accusation. Coby took a step back, unsure of how to proceed. This barely required clarification. What had been closed had been flung open on accident, Coby’s gentle defense of their friend and captain having been the Trojan Horse. The soldiers were spilling into the gated city, and Helmeppo was jealous as _fuck._

“If you’re so upset, why did you invite him?” Coby sat down on the bench, crossing his legs and frowning. Helmeppo sat down next to him with no needed invitation, blowing out a lungful of smoke and wiping his forehead. 

“Because I’m concerned for you, too. You’re doing long nights again.” Coby’s lips pursed. 

“I… thought that you were asleep.” 

Helmeppo laughed, and it was dry and ungentle. The irony, for once, wasn’t lost on Coby. They did everything together— shared meals, battles, awards, a _bed—_ and yet, Coby wasn’t allowing anyone to take care of him. This obsession with standing on his own after he was freed by someone else, allowed to join the marines by someone else, and saved on the battlefield by someone else, was hurting him. He was strong. His Haki was more finely tuned, and he was quickly mastering Rokushiki. He should let himself be helped by people. 

_Ah, what a concept._

Coby fidgeted, turning his hands over on themselves and looking down. He wasn’t allowing himself the ability to be weak. Drake was just the only one who was demanding that he be so. Helmeppo could accuse and chide and push him, but he was too close to the situation to actually demand it of Coby, because he most likely feared that it would dent their relationship. Drake was blunt and judgemental about this sort of thing, never forgiving or lenient or _weak_. 

Oh, so Drake did it too. They were, both of them, an absolute _mess_. 

How ironic, how much Helmeppo had changed! The boy who was so out of tune with everything that he believed that he had a father who cared for him was now the only man between them that actually knew how to take care of himself. And Coby, Coby who had a hard time demanding anything of anyone, couldn’t offer their fellow SWORD member the same impartial, blunt opinion that demanded that he _sleep_ and stop phoning Coby at 3 am with mission updates, or go for a _drink_ , or talk about the forbidden past that he would not admit to. 

“Helmeppo,” he murmured. “You’re better at this than either of us.” Helmeppo exhaled a cloud. 

“Yeah.” 

“So why are you jealous?” Blonde hair flared out to the side as the impermissible word broke the sunlight and bounced off of the painfully white walls around them. 

“I’m not…” Helmeppo stared at him. “I’m not jealous of you.”

“You’re jealous of him, then.” 

“I’m _not.”_ Helmeppo crossed his arms, sucking in his cheeks and staring off to the side under his visor. “You can’t be jealous of someone with such stupid hair.” Coby stole his cigarette out of his mouth, raising an eyebrow. Several things were painfully clear right now. 

“You like me.” 

“Fuck _off,_ Coby.” This was not a deterrent. 

“You like me, and you’re aware of everything, but you still don’t think that you have the right to bodily remove me from my desk, because you’re worried that I’ll think that you’re an asshole and I’ll stop talking to you, and you can’t have that because you like me and you’re my friend. But Drake can do it because he’s also terrible at looking after himself and his emotions, and so you’re jealous of him, but you shouldn’t be, because I’ll listen to you if you tell me things, and I won’t think any worse of you for it even if I don’t like it.” Helmeppo sighed, officially defeated. 

Coby’s eyebrows furrowed. He thought that he had figured it out, but the triumph was soured by the sudden sense that he was still being oblivious to something. 

“It’s got to be that dumb fucking Haki. Can you hear my thoughts?” Helmeppo squinted at him and Coby blinked. 

“I haven’t been trying.” 

“Well, you’ve got me, anyway! You have a jawline now and you’re hot and nice and a big emotional sap bag and I _like_ you, and fuck you for figuring it out!” Helmeppo stole his cigarette back, but seemed to forget to raise it to his lips in his vitriol. He settled for waving it around to emphasize his point.

“I’ve always had a _jawline!!”_

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that again.” 

“Take off your visor and I’ll give it a shot!” Coby made a grab for it, but Helmeppo dodged, using the momentum to tilt Coby’s chin up and press a kiss to his lips. Coby froze. He hadn’t even truly considered what he felt in return. It felt natural for them to be in love, after so many different tribulations and traumas and victories that they had won with their arms around the shoulders of the other. And Helmeppo’s cold glares whenever Coby was fawned over by some girl hadn’t gone unnoticed. He started to think about the times that he had felt that twinge when it was the other who received confessions or chocolates. At the time, he had written it off as simply materialistic, but they had always shared those sort of things, so the concern was inexcusable without a second motive. 

“There.” Helmeppo coughed, leaning back. “Now we can forget it.” 

“That girl, who asked you out.” Coby watched Helmeppo’s eyebrows rise. “Say she got murdered.”

_“What the hell, Coby?”_

“It’s hypothetical!! It’s hypothetical!! I’m trying to figure out if I like you or not!” Helmeppo sighed. 

“You’re a _mess.”_

“No, but really. Say she got murdered, and we were on the case and we just figured out that she’d given someone a confession.” 

“You’d check for other people, right? Who were jealous. Coby, for the love of— this is messed up, she’s a nice girl—“ 

“Would it be me?” Coby looked over at him. “Would I be the jealous one?” Smoke floated toward the heavens again as he wracked his brain, trying to sort out his feelings. The heat was slowing his brain down and making his heart race, it had to be. 

_But I feel this same thing about Drake. I watch him get fawned over by the people who like the_ idea _of a pirate, and it bothers me… not because he’s my colleague, but because he’s…_

_And if this emotion means that I’m in love with Hepp, then…_

  
“I think…” Was he even thinking? It felt like his emotions were driving his body, raising his hand to cradle his friend’s cheek and lean in a little. “...can we try that again?” Helmeppo looked hesitant, but indulged him, pressing in again and locking their mouths together. 

Again, this same feeling of simple familiarity. Like he’d been doing it his whole life, and not only beginning to understand his own attractions. He wanted to take his time with the kiss, to analyze and decide, to choose every word carefully so he didn’t panic and fudge it, but Helmeppo was impatient and indiscreet with these sort of things. Honestly, Coby had no right to be disappointed when he pulled away early, tilting his head and demanding, “Well? Don’t be cruel, Coby!”

Coby panicked and fudged it. 

“I’m in love with Drake,” he blurted out, surprising both of them. Helmeppo took a second to process, his lips pursed. 

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I know.” He kicked one lanky leg out in the dust. His cigarette had burned to a nub without him, the rush of nicotine lost to a different kind of rush, one much rarer. He lifted it to his lips anyway, seeming to have accepted the inherent pathetic nature in the gesture. “I get it.”

“Don’t,” Coby scolded. “Let me explain myself.” He reached over, finally reaching success in removing the visor. “I feel… I feel greedy. Like I’m taking more than I can deserve, and I...” He held it in his hands, smoothing over the dark metal edges. Helmeppo blinked, looking over at him. “Is it natural, Helmeppo? To love two people at once?” There was a brief moment of silence. 

“I don’t know,” the other answered honestly. “I couldn’t care less whether something is natural or not.” When Helmeppo wrapped an arm around him, Coby sank into it gratefully despite the heat. “You’re in love with a giant man-lizard and you can break steel with your hands like it’s porcelain. I feel like being in love with two people is probably the most natural thing out of those three, yeah?”

“He’s an allosaurus,” Coby sighed into Helmeppo’s vest. 

“Oh, right. _Now_ we’re into natural.” There was a snicker and a shove and another small, soft kiss. 

“Your ice is melting, you know.” Coby froze. Drake was in the doorway, dangling a picnic basket off of a few crooked fingers. “Unless you’re a fan of lukewarm lemonade, I suggest we get to the bay.” 

“How much…” 

“What did I hear? You’re very loud when discussing relationships that marines shouldn’t technically be having.” Drake crossed the room, and Coby’s fingers dug into the stone bench so he didn’t flinch. He still didn’t like it when people towered over him, but Drake seemed to know more than he let on, kneeling down and gently prying Helmeppo’s visor from his hands. “Don’t crush that, Coby,” he murmured. “You’d disappoint him.” Coby swallowed, looking him in the eye and god, they weren’t even at eye level _now_. He could feel Helmeppo bristling a little, and gently set his hand over his. Drake turned the black glass and metal over in his hands, making Coby’s same inspection.

“What are you doing, fondling that?” Helmeppo lit a new cigarette. 

“You’re a jealous person,” Drake stated. It wasn’t up for debate. “You stake your territory, and then you act like an angry housecat every time someone crosses into it.” Coby held his breath. This couldn’t go well. “You’re petty and you have a propensity for cruelty that I understand comes from your time at Shells Town under M—“

“I’m daring you, say that name,” Helmeppo hissed, leaning forward. Drake didn’t even give him the dignity of a change in expression. 

“I see. You love _this_ man, who loves me, and you choose him over your father.” 

“Y—.. I do.” A flicker of a smile crossed Drake’s face, so brief and so small that they both nearly missed it. 

“I am nearly twice his age,” he forged on. “I’ve seen horrors and experienced horrors similar to both of yours, and I’ve had more time to witness things that are worse.” 

“So,” Coby breathed, “Do you know about the… the…”

“The most beautiful woman in all the ocean? Yes.” Drake crossed his legs, setting the basket in the shade. “I’ve been trained to collect information discreetly. None of these things that I know about either of you will ever be shared with my superiors, even under duress or interrogation, if it comes to that. In time, if we allow this thing to progress and I determine that this one,” a thumb jabbed in the direction of Helmeppo, “can keep a secret, I’ll return the favor. Until then, you’ll just have to trust me.” Coby nodded. 

“You know that I love you. And you… I mean, you… er…you said a…. a _thing…_ ”

“Yes. I’ve haven’t had the fortune to engage in the pleasure of spending much time with you face to face but I… I hope that my fortune will change.” Helmeppo leaned forward, face gone slack with astonishment. 

“Are you _red in the face?!”_

“I’m _not_ ,” Drake snapped back at him, very clearly red in the face. Helmeppo lit up with glee and he grabbed his visor back. 

“Let me just cement this in my brain, and then let’s head down to the bay, right?” Coby slid down onto the floor, taking Drake’s hand and looking at it for a long moment. 

“Helmeppo, is it okay?” He looked back at his friend turned lover, still a little pensive. Helmeppo shrugged, grinning widely. 

“I’m happy. As long as he treats you well too, I’ll be happy for both of you, and happy for us. I don’t think much can spoil this day for me.” He glared at Drake. “You’d better be good to him too, Chuckles.” Drake raised his hands, surrendering in a mild sort of manner. 

“Just don’t shoot him.”

“Just don’t _eat_ him.” 

“Both of you,” Coby sighed, pressing Drake’s forehead against his own and shivering at the thrill it gave him when their lips pressed together. A large hand cradled the back of his head, and Coby could feel the corners of Drake’s mouth turning up in a smile. They pulled back in tandem, and while the same flat expression now graced the countenance of the Rear Admiral, Coby was getting better at reading his eyes. Drake was profoundly, truly happy. 

“Dinner time,” he announced, grabbing back the basket. “I guess we’ll have to go with lukewarm lemonade.” Coby linked one hand with Drake’s, standing up and taking Helmeppo’s as well. 

“Small price to pay,” he responded, the words coming easily to him. Anxiety was slowly seeping out of him into the summer air. 

“You know what they say about gingers, Drake. Right?” They walked out of the arena, headed for the ocean. 

“No…” 

“Well, they— don’t hit me!” 

“Be _nice.”_

They were natural as it got. 


End file.
